Bluefish Ranch
A snapshot from history, the Bluefish Ranch has dozen head of a distinctly post-war animal, the Grand White Buffalo. Located in eastern Wyoming, the ranch contends with all of the problems of pre-war with mutants replacing indians. History The Bluefish Ranch was the childhood dream of Randal Owings, an itinerant cattle hand in the Badlands Territory since he saw his first buffalo.After thirty years of hard work and dodging raiders, Owings would save enough to buy a bull and three females, and took them west to Wyoming. Here he would build a simple hut and corral for his fledgling herd at night, moving them to different feeding spots during the day.The first year would be hard, with Owings battling the land to get established. Despite the challenges the ranch would prosper, with the herd doubling by 2253. Owings would butcher his first in September of that year, and salt the meat for winter, supplementing his diet of Jackalope. Selling the hide, horns and excess meat the next spring, Owings would buy some beans and corn, planting them in a fenced garden to add much needed variety and nutrion. Mutants would threaten the ranch that summer, though they seemed more inclined to harass than to do harm.In this way the ranch would claw it's way to stability, and in 2260 would see it's second human resident when Owings married. The bride was Margret Hoover, the daughter of a dry-goods merchant in a neighboring town, and she was used to hard work, and transitioned well to the ranch. The pair would now manage thirty head of buffalo and ranch across a hundred acres in both Wyoming and the Badlands. The strains of cowboying would wear on Margret over the year, and she told Owings he needed to hire hands so she could maintain their home. He would reluctantly agree and sign on a drifting hand that had came to the ranch. the pair would get on well, and would fight off a handful of mutants in September. In 2262 a bunkhouse would be built, and three new buffalo added for diversity. The ranch's first drive would be in2265, with thirty head drove into town,with the proceeds spent on supplies, seasonings, food, ammo and other sundries, including hiring a ghoul chef who claimed to be from pre-war Cheyenne. The ranch would repeat this in 2269 with twenty-five head, this time buying a pair of rifles and decorations for the house. As time went on and the herd grew two more hands would be signed on, helping to drive forty-three head in 2276. The year after this would be marred by trouble however, as Jackalope and Breeder Bugs moving into the region and eating much of the grass. Wolves would also threaten the herd, attacking calves that strayed too far away from their parents. Owings and the hands tried to solve this problem by aggressive hunting but the buffalo would still starve over the winter of 2277 before the Jackalopes were culled. The Breeder Bugs were harder to stop due to their swarms, but the ranchers would light several fires that destroyed most of their swarms, and smashed the remaining egg-sacks. The buffalo would be forced to roam much farther at this point due to the lack of vegetation, which allowed the wolves to take down more head than in their previous eating range, but the ranch-hands would move them on. Owings would then have to import hay and alfalfa to feed his herd for the next several years while the range regrew, which would drain the ranch's ring-pull reserves until the herd returned to grazing in 2282. Another drive would be made in 2286, with the money covering some of the costs of feed. Mutants have begun to harass the Bluefish again, frustrating the aged Owings, who doesn't have any children to leave it to. Lay-out The Bluefish Ranch is composed of a bunkhouse, barn, adobe house and corral, as well as dozens of acres for buffalo to graze. A small pond sits on the property, with the fish within lending the ranch it's name. Category:Sites Category:Badlands